Apparatus for gathering and feeding in crops to stripper harvesting and reaper thrasher machines



Nov..17, 1931. TAYLOR 1,832,154

APPARATUS FOR GATHERING AND FEEDING IN CROPS T0 STRIPPER HARVESTING AND REAPER THRASHER MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 5, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l S. TAYLOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 17, 1931.

APPARATUS FOR GATHERING AND FEEDING IN CROPS TO STRIPPER HARVESTING AND REAPER THRASHER MACHINES Original Filed Oct. 5, 1928 Patented Nov. 17, 1931 LUNH'TED STATES ,HEADLIE sHIrAn TAYLoit, or SUNSHINE, V CTO I ,AUST'RALIA, ssis -mare H. v.

McKAY rRorRIETARY LIMITED, or SUNSHINE, VICTORIA, AUs'rnALIA APPARATUS FORGATEERING AND FEE-nine In caorsros'rnirrna HARVESTING AND BEAPER THBASHER MACHINES Original application filed October 5, 1928, Seria1 No. 310,603,and in Australia December 2 3, 192 71 Divided.

and this application filed January 18, 1930; swarm-421,877.

This application is a division of application S. N. 310,603, 1iled Oct. 5, 1928, now matured into Patent No. 1,817,429.

This invention relates to-improvements in and connected with apparatus for gathering and feeding in crop to stripper harvesting and reaper-thrasher machines and refers especially to apparatusfor gathering standing crop in advance of the comband' feeding f it rearwardly thereover into the path of movement of rotary heaters or a knife situated in advance of a transverse conveyor or "conveyors.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and durably constructed apparatus which will operate efliciently to gather the crop in advance of a comb without thrashing theheads thereof, and direct it rearwardly thereover toa rotary beater or a reaping knife in such a way as-to; prevent choking of the'comb and loss of grain; I

I accomplish the abovementioned object by mounting a batten or blade rigidly on the front ends of arms associated with and acted upon by cranks to impart'forward and rearward movements to the armsand batten, and

constraining cranks connectedby links to the arms whereby the batten in its rearward movement will feed the crop into and over the comb and when adjacent to the stripper or reaping mechanism at the base of the comb will move upwardly at an angle and again enter the crop in advance thereof. The invention comprises means for adjust ably supporting theoperative parts of the apparatus whereby it can be readily adapted to particular requirements and the driving mechanism may embody means for throwing the apparatus into and out of action as and when required. Y

Inorder that the invention may be readily understood reference will nowbe had to the accompanying sheets of explanatory draw ingswherein 7 4.

Figure 1 is a view in plan ofportionof the crop gathering and conveying mechanism of a reaperthrasher machine fitted with improvements constructed in accordance with the present invention. 7

w For convenience in assembling, the 11 may be formed in'two or more parts which Figure 2 isa view insectional end elevation of Figure 1. i

5 In-these drawings wherein a bodiment of-the invention is shown as adapted foruse with a reaper thrasher having a pair of helical transverse conveyors 6 at the base of a comb 7 a series ofbracketsS is fitted to the top of the casing or to reinforcing-bars 52 thereon whereby theycan be adjusted to project more or lessbeyond the front thereof'as desired and'this adjustment may beeifected by slotted holes: 53 in the practical embrackets engaging fastening bolts 54: and by providing screw adjustment memb'ers 55 between the brackets and their supports.

T'he front-end of each bracket 8 supportsa by one of the bolts 54 whereby the upper part.

can beadjusted forward or backward and retained in any desired position.

gear casing 56 the upper part oflwhich'is Thelowe'r part of each gear casing56 provided-with alpair of-rearwardly project'- ing lugs 58 arranged to-receive opposed set screws 59 the points of which arejadapte'd to bear in recesses formed on the top and underside: of the forward end of the bracket; By

adjusting the set screws 59 the gearcasing H can be elevated or lowered as desired- The front end of the adjustable tie? rod 57 can pass through a hole in a lug 60 on thetop of the gear casing 'and'is screw-threaded to take I nuts 61, the adjustment of which permits the upper end of the said casing to be set for wardly or backwardly as desired.

i The gear casings 56 are provided near their upper ends with laterally disposed hearing bosses 62 having a transverse shaft 11 rota tively' mounted therein and this shaft adjacent to each gear casing is shaped into or formed with a crankl i." a

shaft arerigidly connected by sleeves 63 or the furnished with the bearing boss and meshes I v r with an intermediategear '65 which. in turn comb.

meshes with a driving gear 66 fitted to a short spindle 67 formed with a crank 68 arranged to rotate in unison with the adjacent crank 14 on the transverse shaft. a p v The spindle supporting the intermediate gear wheel is mounted in a boss 69 on the centre of the gear casing which is provided 7 with a laterally projecting flange tohouse the 7 said gear wheels. r

A series of curved arms 16 is pivotally supported on' the cranks 14 of the transverse shaft and the forward ends of the said arms are fitted to the upper edge of a battenor blade17 which extends the full length of the The pivotedends of the arms 16 are'provided with rearward extensions which are connected by links 71 to the cranks 68 on the spindles supported in the lower ends oft-he gear casings. 7 i The cranks 68 on the spindles supported in the lowerpart of the gear casings'are substantially shorter than the cranks v14 of the transverse shaft and the first mentioned cranks are disposed in such a way that they will'not contact with the larger cranks when the apparatus in operation. In the drawings the cranks 14 are shown spacedat-180'in advance of the cranks 68 but it will be'obvious that they can be arranged at slightly less or slightly more than 180 inv advance ofthe' cranks 68.

Byadjusting'the members 8, 57 and 59- supporting the gear casings the bearings for the transverse shaft and for the cranked spindles can beset in transverse alignment with each other to ensure freedom of operation.

The transverse shaft 11' is adaptedto be rotated by chain and sprocket gearing 72 or other approved mechanism from a transverse shaft 73 or other convenient part-of the machine and suitable clutch mechanism can be associated with the said transmission gearing to permit the shaft to be rotated as and when desired. Y Y

The cranks 14 and 68 on. the transverse shaft and'on the spindles have the same angular speed and the link connections-71 between being directed rearwardlyover, and close to the eomb and to take a path (indicated by the chain dotted line B in Figure 2) which will facilitate the. feeding in of the crop to the base of the comb.

The constraining effect of the shorter cranks 68 and their connections with the rearward eXten'sions'ZO on the arms 16 causethe lower edge of the batten to he held stationary 1 for a moment when it reaches the innermost point of its travel over the .comb' and the 1 upper edge to feather rearwardly prior to passing upwardly close to the front of the transverse conveyor.

7 combfingers.

tapered points'thereby preventing straw or other growth becoming jammed between the By suitably altering the sizes of the cranks 14 and 68 and the lengths of the links 71 and rearwardextensions on the arms, the path of the batten may be varied to suit different machines or combs. P

It willbe obvious that the transverse shaft ll'can be made in two or more independent sections and that the arms on each section can be provided with a batten.

When the transverse shaft and batten are formed of two or more independent sections, the different sections of the batten can be arranged to move one inadvance of the other i V so that the whole length of the comb is not being operated on at the'one timel' Each section of the batten carrying mechanisrnis provided with separate driving gear and with clutch mechanismwhen desired.

The gearing for transn'iitting motion to the transverse shaft may embody'trip or cut out mechanism whereby the batten'can be T 5 operated continuously or intermittently as desired. p

The transverse shaft 73 from which motion is lmparted to the operative parts of the mechanism is provided with a rotatively mountedgear wheel 74 which is adapted to. mesh with a wheel 75 fitted on a parallelly disposed drive shaft 76. The gear wheel 74 on the. shaft 73 is provided withv laterally projecting pins 77 adapted to contact with a 441.0

hook shaped clutch member 78 pivot-ally supported on a lug 79 on a boss which is rigidly secured to the shaft 78. V

The hook shaped clutch member 7 8 is adapted to engage with a pin 77 on the gear wheel 74 by means of a spring (not shown) and means are provided for normally maintaining the hook shaped clutch member clear of the path traversed bythe pins .7 7.

The means for maintaining the hook I2 shaped clutch member 78 out of engagement withthe pins 77 may comprise a vertical projection 80 thereon and a hook shaped pawl 81 pivoted to theframing of the machine and maintained by spring pressure or gravity in 5 advance of the said upward extension. 7

The hook. shaped pawl 81 maybe provided withai iarnr82 to-which is connected a pull cord or like. operating member by actuating which the said pawl can'be'moved from in T30 the shaft 73 and cause the transverse shaftv advance of the projection 80 on the clutch member 7 8 whereby the pawl will engage with one of the pins 77 on the gear wheelon the shaft 7 3.

hen the hook shaped clutch member 78 engages with a pin 77 on the gear wheel the said wheel will be placed in fixed relationship with to be rotated and the batten to be moved hereinbefore described to feed the crop into the comb or to remove any material jammed between the teeth thereof.

The gear wheel 74- on the shaft 73 will remain operatively connected thereto while the retaining pawl 81 is held in its inoperative position. When the pawl is released it will descend so as to lie in the path of the proj ection 80 on the hook shaped clutch member and when the said projection contacts with the pawl the hook shaped clutch member will be pivoted and caused to move clear of the pin 77 on the gear wheel thereby enabling the said gear wheel to rotate freely on and without imparting motion to the transverse shaft.

The hook shaped clutch member isformed with a heel piece 83 which is adapted to bear against the boss supporting the lug .7 9 when the said clutch member is in raised position. The heel piece prevents the clutch member being swung rearwardly into an inoperative position.

The means for automatically placing the crop feeding mechanism into and out of action may be so adjusted that when it-is thrown out of action the batten will be supported at the highermost point of its travel where it will not interfere with the crop entering the comb, I

The clutch mechanism permits the batten to be operated intermittently or when required to free the comb from jammed straw orother material and it may be made to out out automatically on completing a single revolution.

The drive shaft 76 is operated by means of gearing 84 from a shaftv85 or in any other approved way. If preferred the trip or cut out mechanism can be arranged at any approved point between the shaft 73 and the operative mechanism on the main part of the machine. V I

The adjustment provided by the different parts of the invention are essential in view of the fact that harvesting machines are not made with a great degree of accuracy and provision must therefore be made for adjusting the parts of the invention to ensure the best results being obtained from each machine. I a

I claim 1. In-apparatus for gathering and feeding in crop to and Over the combs of stripper harvesting and reaper thrasher machines, a shaft rotatively mounted above the comb,

gearing for imparting rotation to the shaft,

"cranksonthe' shaft, arms pivotally mounted onthe' cranks, a'batten fitted tothe forward 'ends ofthe arms, spindles rotatively mounted "below the shaft, short cranks on the spindles, gearing for imparting rotation from the shaft tofthe spindles, extensions projecting rearwardly from thepivot points of the'arms, and link connections betweenthe extensions and the short cranks on the spindles;

2. Apparatus for gathering and feeding in crop, to and over the combs of stripper harvesti'ngand reaper thrasher machines comif prising a'shaft rotatively mounted above the comb, cranks of substantially large throw on the shaft,-arms having thei'r re'ar ends pivoted to the cranks, a batten fitted to the forward ends of the arms, spindles rotatively supported belowthe shaft, gearing for transmitting motion from the shaft to the spindles, shortcrankson the spindles, and connections between the'short cranks and the arms,-con-j st'ructed and arranged whereby the batten will bemoved rearwardly with its lower edge in contact withor close to the comb to feed the crop rearwardly. and to free any material jammed between the fingers of the comb.

3. In apparatus for gathering and feeding crop to a beateror transverse conveyor at the base of a comb of a strlpper harvestmg or,

reaper thrashermachine, a shaft rotatively mounted above the casing, cranks on the shaft, curved arms pivotally mounted on the cranks,'a batten fittedto the forward ends of the arms, spindles rotatively mounted below the shaft, gearing for imparting uniform rorotatively mounted in the upper ends of thewheels fitted to the shaft and spindles, inter- V mediate gear wheels meshing with the gear wheels on the shaft and spindles, cranks of substantially large throw on the shaft, shorter cranks on the spindles, arms pivotally moimted on the cranks on the shaft, a batten fitted to the forward ends of the arms, rearward extensions on the arms, link connections between the rear extensions on the arms and the cranks on the spindles, and mechanism forimparting rotation to the shaft.

5. In apparatus according to'claim 4, a shaft rotatively mounted at the rear of the crank-shaft, a gear wheel rotatively, mounted on the shaft, a second shaft having a: gear wheel meshing with the 'rotatively mounted gear wheel, pins projecting laterally from the rotatively mounted gear wheel,a hook shaped clutch member pivotaliy supported on amember fitted to thefirst mentioned shaft-and adapted to engage the pins on the rotatively mounted gear Wheel, a projection on the hook shaped clutch member, a pawl adapted toengage with the projection on the clutch memher to retain it out of engagement with'the' pins, and means for actuating the said pawl. I

' 6. In apparatus according to claim 4, brackets adjustably mounted on the casing of the beater or transverse conveyor, gear casings :adjustably mounted on the brackets andsupporting the shaft rotatively in their upper ends and their spindles in their 'lo-wer'ends, said gear casings enclosing the gear wheels for transmittingniotion from the shaft to the spindles.

$7. In apparatus according to claim 3,.lugs

on the gear casings supporting opposed set screws, recesses in the forward ends of the brackets for engaging the ends of the set screws, tie rods having their rear ends secured to the brackets and their upper and forward ends adjustably connected tothe upper part of the gear casings.

In witness whereof I hereunto afiix my'sig- I nature.

.- HEADLIE :SHIPARD VTA'Y'LOR. 

